


The Danielle Jackson Genderswap Fic No One Asked For (But They Got It Anyway) Season One

by SeaWitchAndABitch



Series: Danielle Jackson In Stargate SG1 [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Always Female!Daniel Jackson, Angst, Drug Addiction, F/F, F/M, Gen, Girl!Daniel, Grief, Hurt, Multi, Not Good Self Care, Rape, Really Very Bad Self Care, The Stargate Rewrite From My Perspective, This Is Not A Happy Time Fic, enjoy, non con, really bad coping mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-05-16 22:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaWitchAndABitch/pseuds/SeaWitchAndABitch
Summary: So, I've been on a binge of what if Daniel Jackson was a girl fic's, and some of them have interesting ideas, other's I feel stray to far from canon to be anything other than a new character that bears the vaguest similarity to Daniel. I also feel there isn't enough of it, nor a comprehensive, every episode of Danielle rather than Daniel fic, so this is my imagination running wild. I'm watching the episode as I write so each chapter is an episode, it glosses over some stuff, especially stuff Dani isn't there for, so just take it as it is, and I hope you can enjoy some harmless fan obsession with our real life Milo Thatch.





	1. Children of the Gods - Season One Episode One and Two

And then her adventure begins again. A whole year with her family on Abydos, with her son, and her husband, and her sister and brother, and father. And just as she begins to make progress, with a room of symbols that seem to pertain to the ‘gate, reopening it under round the clock guard, Jack returns his influence to her life, in the form of a box of tissues. She doesn’t know what to do, of course she always knew that eventually he’d have to tell the truth, that Nagada remained, that she remained, but she’d hoped she’d get a little longer without the trappings of western life and western government ruining her life yet again. Abhain says they can merely bury the gate again, pretend they have no knowledge of the worlds beyond the horizon and live happily with Sahak in peace with their family. He always felt a little jealous of the Jack that Skaara had often told stories about around the dinner… rug for lack of a better term. She knows it’s not an option so she finds her last good sharpie in the mess of their tent and writes ‘send more’ on the empty box and sends it back, bouncing her son on her hip as he pulls her hair and she dials the gate back to Earth. And when Jack, Feretti, Kawalsky, and some strange new face come through, she puts on her best face, tells her family to lower their weapons, and gets ready for whatever danger her gut tells her is coming.

“Hello Jack… Welcome back.”

They make eye contact and she practically screams through her eyes for him not to touch her, because Abhain is literally steps behind her. Thankfully, he goes straight for Skaara, though more likely because he loved that kid than because he understood her thoughts.

“Dani, how you doing?”

That’s the moment her husband joins her at her side, his arm wrapping itself around her waist, and she comfortably settles in to the touch, her arms crossed.

“Good, you?”

“Much better, nice to see everybody’s ok, but you haven’t introduced me to the stranger over here. I don’t think we met last time I was here.”

“Nobody I recognise sir.” Kawalsky pipes in like a good little lap dog.

“Abhain is Kasuf’s other son, he remained at the place of their winter dwelling for that season because of a minor injury that meant he could not travel. As is traditional of Nagada Royalty, siblings marry each other, so he is my husband.” And practically on cue, Sha’re walks in with a squawking Sahak, handing him to Dani in a silent gesture that he wanted his mother. Which is about when Feretti joins the conversation.

“And the rugrat is?”

“Our son, Sahak. A year is a long time guys.”

“Greetings and congrats from Earth Dr Jackson.”

“Hello Feretti.” The awkward introduction of her life now over, it’s a little strange, but pleasant to see the men she risked her life for, and who did the same for her.

“Brought you a little something, eh?” Kawalsky brandishes a small pack of kleenex, a little inside joke for their favourite geek extraordinaire.

“Kawalsky.” She joins in on the joke, but secretly, incredibly thankful, the sneezing has been a problem recently.

“So, it’s good to see you all again, and to meet the new faces in the family.” Jack seems to be driving them all towards a point, albeit sarcastically, but doing it all the same.

“I figured you’d have to tell the truth eventually, about us being here.”

“Yup. What’s with the militia? Something else come through?” It’s a loaded question, he’s getting at something but she still doesn’t know what.

“Abhain’s idea, as a precaution, why?” She sees Jack flinch a little, just a little, the same way he had gotten so uncomfortable that her gender had rendered her to a lesser status within the Abydonian patriarchal culture when they first met them. An unknown voice interrupt them.

“Amazing. This was what was missing from the dig at Giza. This is how they controlled it.” Dani can hear the unadulterated glee, must be the scientist for the mission. “It took us fifteen years and three super computers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth.”

“Captain?” An Airforce scientist judging by the rank mention by Jack.

“Look how small it is!”

“Captain!” At that, the blonde, and now judging by her voice, a woman, turns around, getting a head nod from O’Neill that reminds her they’re apparently here for the express purpose of talking to Dani.

“Oh… Right… Excuse me. Dr Jackson I presume? I’m Dr Samantha Carter.” She goes for the handshake but hangs there for a moment while Dani looks up at her husband for permission, which he obviously grants. Dani doubts he would object to anyone touching her but Jack, and yet, once permission is gained, she sees the distaste in Carter’s eyes, definitely a feminist.

“I thought you wanted to be called Captain.” And there is Jack’s signature dislike of scientists of any type. She better derail this before he really insults the poor girl.

“What’s going on Jack?”

No one looks like they want to have this conversation, and yet, it’s unavoidable.

“Six hostiles came through the gate, killed four people, another one’s missing.”

“One of them looked like Ra Danielle.”

The name makes Abhain tug her closely to his chest, their son safely sandwiched between them.

“They did not come from here.” Abhain speaks now, his English is near impeccable, the best of the Nagadan’s. “The boys take shifts guarding. All 36 hours of the day. We would know if they came through here.”

“Dearest husband is correct.”

“Well they came from somewhere Dani.” The affectionate nickname makes Abhain glare at him. “I’m gonna have to look around.”

“I’ll be happy to help you figure out who it was, but it will have to wait until after the sandstorm is over. We were just about to sit down to our evening meal.” Dani elbows her husband, he must extend the invitation, but Dani, as always, is stubborn and independent, so Abhain acquiesces.

“Why don’t you join us. _Wife, you should feed Sahak, and put him to sleep for a few hours, the midwife will watch him whilst we catch up with your Tau’ri friends._ ” The last is spoken in Abydonian, a private conversation between them.

“ _Of course husband, try not to kill any of them, they know nothing of our ways, and mean no harm._ I’ll join you all in a moment, but I have a son to attend to first.”

**

The dinner is going well. Jack is sat far enough away from her for Abhain’s comfort, the whole group laughing as Skaara hands out his moonshine, and Dani enjoys the peaceful joy of watching Jack struggle with the strength of the brew. Dani is barely even paying attention at all. Dinner is one of the few peaceful moments she has with her husband now that they have Sahak, so they are lost within each others eyes. Sha’re taps Dani on the shoulder.

“Dana’re, sister, the storm has passed.”

With a sigh of sadness, Dani stands, her husband with her.

“I will take them to show them the things they need to see now. Will you remain to guard the gate with the boys?”

“I will, wife.”

Dani goes to leave with Jack and the others, but a sudden feeling washes over her, and on impulse, she turns and drags her husband down for a sloppy, loving, deep kiss. The whooping around them is mildly embarrassing, but the fact that Abhain is dazed and confused, seemingly struck dumb by the kiss, is gratifying and so worth it when she pulls away.

“Goodbye my Abhain.”

The group walk out, leaving her family behind, Feretti along with them, and they take a walk through the desert, she talks as she walks.

“After you guys left and we buried the gate, we partied for a while, but then came the time to move to the Plains, where the Nagadan’s go for their winter, what winter they can have on a desert planet. There, I met Abhain, and I barely spent a month as the unmarried daughter of Kasuf before I found out that Abhain, for the first time in his 28 summers, had decided to pursue a wife… In me. We were married and I was very pregnant by the time we made our way back here, by which point I found out I was allergic to yaphetta flour, and utterly useless at all the cooking things a wife should do. The cleaning and the weaving was perfect, and I eventually got better at cooking, but Sha’re laughed at me for months as I failed again and again. Said the slayer of gods was above the basic wifely duties, and especially more so because only I interested her brother, mostly because I was so adversely different. Anyway, when we got back here, I was having such awful trouble sleeping while pregnant with Sahak that I ended up going on adventures at night, walking around, seeing if I could find something, anything, that meant there was more to this place.”

They finally come upon the separate Cartouche Room now, two of her cousins spreading out to light fires in the room for light.

“It was about month seven of the pregnancy when I found this place, uh, Captain Doctor, you’re gonna love this.” And Dani was right.

“Oh my God, this is amazing. This is the archaeological find of the century.”

“Dani, you had a chance to translate this yet?”

“I think so.”

“What’s it say?” He seems to have such confidence, unwavering confidence, in her ability to know what it says, and it strikes her as weird considering how much he hated her in the beginning. They were barely friends when he left, and she certainly hadn’t thought back on their interactions with any great joy. Begrudging camaraderie maybe.

“It doesn’t say anything actually. It’s actually a chart… More of a map.” She pops the ‘p’. It’s nice to chat to someone casually in English, practicing her 3rd language with a natural speaker is comforting in a way.

“Of?” Jack seriously expects an answer, a definitive one, and Dani snorts at that.

“Well I haven’t been able to analyse all of it, I mean, look at it, it would take my whole life, and Sahak is my priority these days.”

“I understand, but we don’t have that long Dani.” And that’s the comforting look of a man who had a son, who was there for at least some of the sleepless nights, especially with a 2 month old baby. “Any guesses as to what it’s a map of?”

“Well, the cartouches seem to be separated clearly in to groupings, each group seems to be attached to the others with a series of lines, and each grouping of glyphs contains seven symbols, so you can see where this is going of course.”

“Tell us anyway.”

“A-all of the symbols are on the Stargate in the Abydos chamber, I’ve also managed to chart some of them in the night sky, or at least pretty close.” As she wanders the room, she turns back to find she’s losing his attention. “Jack! I think this is a map of a vast network of Stargates, Stargates that are all over the galaxy.”

“I don’t think that can be Doctor.”

“Why not?”

“Because after Colonel O’Neill and his team came back, my team ran hundred of symbol permutations using Earth as the point of origin and it never worked.”

“It tried the same thing here and it didn’t work either, I figured the destinations I dialled were either destroyed or buried,” Like they had theirs, “But some them somewhere must still exist.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then where did your Ra look alike come from.” Dani is starting to get really annoyed by this woman, there’s stubborn, and then there’s impertinent. Thankfully, that stuns Carter in to silence. “I don’t pretend to know anything about astrophysics but couldn’t the planets change. I mean, drift apart, or, or, something like that to throw this map off?”

“I knew I’d like you?” Now that’s a rare reaction Dani ever gets from another woman.

“You mean I’m right?” Her brows are furrowed.

“According to the expanding universe model, all bodies in the universe are constantly moving further apart.”

“So in the thousands of years since the Stargate was built…”

“All the coordinates could have changed.”

“Then why does is still work between Abydos and Earth?”

“Well, Abydos is probably the closest planet in the network to Earth. The closer they are, the less the difference in relative position due to expansion. The further apart, the greater the distance. In a few thousand more years, it won’t work between Abydos and Earth either.” Dani is definitely liking this chick, smart, feminist, and they have a good repartee.

“Unless you can adjust for the displacement.”

“Right! And with this map as a base, that should be easy. All we have to do is correct for doppler’s shift. And then, I should be able to create a computer model that will predict the rate of adjustment necessary to get the gate working again.”

While the two science geeks are this close to squeeing and jumping with joy, the boys that watch this meeting of the minds are getting more confused and annoyed by the minute, and Kawalsky is more than happy to voice it for the both of them.

“Ok, so what did we just figure out?”

“Any civilisation advanced enough to build the gate network would be able t compensate for 50,000 years of interstellar drift.”

“So the Stargate can go other places.” Jack sums it up nicely, and unnecessarily.

“The aliens could have come form anywhere.” Another obvious footnote, made by Carter this time. But for now, it’s time to go back to the the camp in the chamber.

**

Dani comes running in, they heard the closing of the gate, and the wails of her people, and the first thing she sees is her husband, Abhain, lying slain beside the DHD, and not a metre away from him is the lifeless body of her son Sahak. And all she can think to do is cry, silent tears, kneeling before the corpse of her happiness. Bolaa cries out to her, and she goes to him.

“What has happened good cousin?”

“There were so many of them, It was Ra.”

“No Ra is dead. _Ra is dead cousin._ ”

“No, Sha’re was holding Sahak to calm him, and they came. There were so many of them. They killed Abhain where he stood, and Sahak when they took Sha’re and Skaara through the Chaapa’ai with them. I am sorry Dana’re.”

“There is nothing to be sorry for Bolaa.”

Another family member lost, Bolaa succumbing to his wounds. Kawalsky approaches her, she’s still yet to have stopped crying.

“What is going on Dani, could there be another Ra?”

“How in the fuck should I know Charlie. Goddamnit I should have left the barricade up, it’s all my fault.”

“Sir, Feretti needs medical attention now!” The thought of losing another person enrages Dani, even through her grief stricken state.

“Go, I can send you back!”

“You’re coming with us Danielle, I’ve got orders this time.”

“Screw your orders Jack, my family is dead! I have to go find my siblings.”

“The best way to do that is if you come home with us.”

They finally lock eyes, and he sees her heartbreak, the one he feels everyday, because no parent should outlive their child.

“This is my home…”

“Look, Feretti might have seen the coordinates. Captain, you get the video?”

“Everything I need.”

Dani, looks at the people around her, her home, her family, and she knows she must leave them, so with tears streaming down her face she calls to them all.

“ _Gather. Gather._ After we go through the Chaapa’ai, you have to bury it. Just like we did before and leave this place.”

“You come back?” Another of her many cousins ask this, she is the last child remaining of the Royal House, and yet, Kasuf remains, he must hold the fort so to speak.

“No. I can’t, that’s what I’m telling you, nobody can, not for a… long time.” It breaks her heart a little more each word. She is abandoning her home. “Now, as soon as we’re gone, I want you to close it, bury it. Put a-a big heavy cover stone over it. Nothing good can ever come through this gate. Do you understand?”

“But you came through it Dana’re.” God this kid has her heartstrings in a good grip right now.

“Do you remember the story I told you? About the ancient Egyptians back on Earth who cut themselves off from Ra? Well that is exactly what you have to do. Then in one year, one year from this day, you take the cover stone away. I will try to bring my family home with me on that day, but if I don’t-. If I don’t make it back, then I want to you to cover the gate forever. _Understand?_ You tell my father that in one year.”

The crowd practically swallows her whole, hugging and touching from all sides. She is going to miss this so sorely, the closeness of the whole family, of her whole village. But she dials the gate, just like she did last time, but this time, she will complete her journey, and return home.

**

On the other side, the is helping Carter drag through one of their wounded as someone in the Gateroom calls for a medic, and someone else says something about an iris. Dani sinks to the ground on the ramp, shaking, sobbing silent tears. Oh god, he really is dead. They’re both really dead. She hears in her periphery Jack saying.

“They killed Dr Jackson’s whole family, grabbed her two siblings, murdered a whole slew of our kids.”

“Her family? Her siblings? Your kids?” None of it seems to make sense to the General, who is most definitely not West.

“She was adopted by the Royal family, and she was married with a son. Our kids are from the previous mission sir.”

Another man, the one who had called for the closing of the iris, speaks now, and Dani can feel him staring at her.

“What’s wrong with her, she go crazy among the natives Colonel?”

“She just stood feet away from the corpses of her husband and her 2 month old son, and was forced to leave the last family she has. She’s grieving you absolute-“ Carter’s defence of her is halted, when Dani herself stands.

“I’d like to be on the team that goes after them, sir.” Bringing the General’s attention straight to her, still shaking, but no longer outright crying form.

“I think you might benefit a little rest, sweetheart.”

“I am no one’s sweetheart.”

“Nonetheless, Jackson, you might do well with a second to yourself.” Jack is trying to defuse the situation, and he more or less does a fine job, because she is left to change from her Abydonian robes in to some BDU’s. That does leave her feeling lost in the base as everyone deals with other problems, and no one knows what to do with her. She tells Jack as much when he inquires.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” He leads her out of the base and in to his car. Everything feels a lot like a dream, so absurdly unreal to her.

**

As he’s grabbing her a beer, she has a sudden attack of the sneezes, which she catches skilfully in a tissue.

“Nice catch.”

“Thanks, sorry. Gate travel always seems to make my allergies act up. I remember the first time I sneezed in front of Abhain, he worried I was going to die.” She accepts the beer with a little ‘sorry’.

“So you were saying.” Jack sprawls along his couch in the fashion men often do, opening his beer as he listens.

“Well, after you left, it was like their minds exploded with a thousand different possibilities, I mean, Abydos was their’s, and their’s alone, their world for the taking.”

“Have a little party did’ya?” A hint of Jack’s Minnesotan background slipping through.

“Oh yeah, big party, and they all acted as though I was some great saviour it was… Embarrassing to say the least. Except Sha’re of course, who just treated me mostly likely her idiot little sister. It was interesting relearning some stuff from my childhood. She would laugh at me hysterically every time I failed at a chore they took for granted. Like grinding yaphetta flour.”

“Your childhood?”

“Didn’t I ever mention, I was born and raised in Alexandria mostly, my parents were archaeologists too. And my grandparents. Geekery runs in the family.”

“It’s amazing you turned out so normal.”

“Yeah, Sahak probably would’ve… been a lot like me…” It hits her again. Her baby boy is already gone. “This stuff is going straight to my head.”

“God Dani, you’re a cheaper date than my wife was.” Good, a chance to avoid her own emotions.

“Yes, when am I going to meet the mysterious O’Neill spouse.”

“Oh, probably… never. After I came back the first time, she’d already left.”

“I’m sorry.” What a delightful pair they make, a widow and a divorcee.

“I think in her heart, she forgave me for what happened to our kid, she just couldn’t forget.”

“And you?”

“I’m the opposite, I’ll never forgive myself, but sometimes I can forget.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever manage either. If I’d left well enough alone, my husband, my son, might still be alive. And I just can’t…” The words unsaid break her down, and she is back to a sobbing mess, with only Jack O’Neill there to attempt to comfort her. So he does his best.

**

At the mountain the next day, they’re subject to a meeting in the briefing room, and Dani is surrounded by Carter and O’Neill either side. She contributes where she can, especially with the deep hope, belief, instilled within her, that Ra is definitely dead. But then the epiphany hits her,and thought they chuckle a little, she gets her point across, there is more than one of the eye glowing assholes, it doesn’t help her request to tag along, even though nine teams are going to be created, and General Hammond, as she’s now aware his name is, doesn’t really want her on any of them.

“Dr Jackson, we need you as a consultant for all of the SG teams, and we feel it might be best if you’re given time to grieve-“

“No.” And that stuns the man in to silence. “I really have to be in their team. My sister, and my brother are out there, and they are the only family I have left. I promised Kasuf, my father, I would return with them, that I’d get them back. I have to be out there doing just that.”

“I’ll take that under consideration.” That’s really all she gets in acknowledgement before they move on.

They’re all gathered around Feretti’s bedside in a second, and she hugs her cup of coffee obsessively, watching him struggle to identify all the glyphs in the Stargate address. Which means all of them, including her, go on the mission, and she resolutely ignores everything Simmons says about Primary Objectives and her family not being that. She’s too busy psyching herself up to go back through the gate.

And through a series of unfortunate events, they find themselves in a large singular prison cell filled with people. Those events being the discovery of Chulak, the choosing, being mistaken for gods, again, finding Sha’re, getting her ass hand to her by the alien inside Sha’re, and waking up to the face of her Carter.

“Sister! I saw her.”

“We all did Danielle.” Jack arrives at the scene. Pessimistically sarcastic as always.

“I haven’t found an exit yet, but look what I did find.”

“Dana’re!” Skaara kisses her square on the mouth, chaste, a brotherly kiss, but it clearly shocks the two with them. “Where is my brother, surely he would not let you venture so far from him, or Sahak, especially with O’Neill.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Dani ignores Jack, catching her breath to explain.

“Abhain is dead, so is Sahak, killed when you were taken.”

“You are okay though?”

“I think so.”

She is enveloped by a great hug, just as her legs turn to jelly again, and they all help her sink back to the ground.

“Welcome back to the land of the conscious.”

“O’Neer told me of Sha’re.” His butchering of Jack’s last name remains adorable.

“Jack, we can get her back, if we just find her again-“

“Ah! Don’t. It doesn’t matter, because the mission’s gonna be a bust. The gate is gonna close in just under 90 minutes and we have no way out of here.” Jack stands to find his arm grabbed by an Apep guard, who questions the origin of his non-goa’ulxd technology, meaning his watch. She does her best to explain where they’re from, and the terse man leaves. She jokes in her head that he seems rather friendly, having destroyed her drawing of the final Earth chevron.

Whilst Jack and Skaara make failed attempts to find an escape, Dani tries to explain to Sam that the impersonator of Egyptian Mythology that is currently their problem is Apophis, Ra’s brother and enemy, because what sibling isn’t. Which is about when the guards return with terse guy speaking for them all.

“Sha’ka hah, kree hol mel Goa’uld.”

“What’d he say?” Jack asks immediately.

“They going to choose.” Skaara grits out uncomfortably.

“Choose what?” Carter tries to clear up the ambiguity.

“Who will be the children of the gods.”

There is an ominous parade before Apophis and Sha’re, or rather Amonet, step out, and Dani’s reaction is immediate.

“Sister! Jack, we have to save her, please!” But they hold her back, as the same terse Jaffa says something else.

“Benna ha. Ya wan ya duru. Kneel before your masters!”

The crowd is forced to their knees, people crying out, Jack and Skaara trying to resist.

“Benna ha. Ya wan ya duru. Choose!”

The others whom stood on the platform in their gaudy outfits wander through the crowd, each picking out a face, who is grabbed and dragged away. Finally, Dani can take no more, she grabs at a passing host, and they have weapons trained on them in seconds, but all she can think of is being close to her sister again. So when they insinuate in that echoing voice it has that her spirit is desirable, all she really wants to know is if the something of the host must survive. How much she’ll remember when she’s trapped as a prisoner within her own body. But all her idiocy does is bring their attention to Skaara and she loses him too. They take him, kicking and screaming their names, an all she can do is begin to cry again, just a steady stream of tears. And when the badly dressed snake beside her sister says “Kill the rest!” All she can think is ‘yes please’.

But Jack being Jack gets a Jaffa, the terse head Jaffa even, to turn on his brethren, something he’s been waiting for apparently, and they barely escape with their lives. Plus some extra refugees. And as they’re running for the gate, she keeps wishing stray fire will hit and kill her. But it doesn’t. She survives long enough to see her sister and her brother disappear through the gate, infested by body snatching parasites. They bring home refugees and a Jaffa, but not her family.

In a matter of two days, all shreds of her happiness have been stripped away.


	2. The Enemy Within - Season One Episode Three

It’s a week of staying in Jack’s spare room while they ‘bring her back to life’ so to speak, and in that time she’s discovered she hates most earth food, so that’s gonna take some getting used to, and god has she missed coffee. Thankfully, there’s a middle eastern food market in town, so she submits Jack to Earth approximations of all the meals she cooked back home. Every day is spent hanging out in Carter’s office, though they’ve both upgraded to first name basis already, the wonderful bonding experience of being intelligent women in a misogynistic society. Lunch is an awkward experience, as Jack brings Teal’c and Dani is there, but she really doesn’t have the energy to hate the guy, she’s too busy holding herself together enough not to be crying every time she thinks about her very dead baby boy. 

 

So when Sam finally gets the first coordinates out of her computer model, P3-575 and P3A-577, Dani is more than happy to have something else to do with her time other than mope, and try to come back to life, get her stuff back, get an apartment. The good news is, no one touched her office after the Abydos mission returned without her, and Jack himself emptied out her apartment, so that’s all in storage. The bad news is, the man himself is now joke-bickering with Kawalsky about mission assignments, so all she can do is hug her coffee to her chest and wait out his childish antics. And for the nth time this week, the gate receives an incoming traveller, which, considering no teams have left yet, means it’s the Goa’uld again. Jack can make jokes all he wants, but just the sound of the klaxons going off are messing with her unsteady coping mechanism. Of course, no one can know she’s barely holding it together so she watches the gate in anticipation as the thuds sound throughout the Gate and Control Rooms, and she participates in conversation as best she can.

 

“Well they can’t keep it up forever… Can they?”

 

“Woah!”

 

“Well once they realise our gates impenetrable, they should just give up.”

 

“Part of me wants to let ‘em through, give ‘em the fight they’re looking for.” Dani silently agrees, wishing she could strangle the lot of them with her bare hands. But she doesn’t say anything now. She hears the wormhole close, sees them check for radiation.

 

“Well, there are worse ways to go.” 

 

“You don’t think the Goa’uld are sending people through, do you?” So she is a little worried that the Goa’uld inside Sha’re and Skaara could have walked them through that gate, that they’re splattered on the iris.

 

“Be like bugs on a windshield.” Jack is so cavalier, she wonders if he’s thinking about the fact that one of those bugs could be her brother or sister. Could be Skaara, who he doted on so heavily.

 

So that’s her Monday morning all blocked up, with the repetition of the gate being activated, and the countdown starting, and the radiation team finding nothing. At some point, she knows Kawalsky leaves, down to the infirmary for a persistent headache, but all she can do is stare at the gate, entranced, and hope that isn’t the thunk of her siblings. She phrases it differently than how she wants to, because she can’t ask if they can be sure it isn’t a host going through and getting squished.

 

“This iris is gonna hold right?” ‘There’s no way my sister is hitting the other side of it right?’

 

“It’s pure titanium, less than three micrometers from the event horizon, it won’t even let matter to fully reintegrate.”

 

“So this iris is gonna hold right?” 

 

“If it doesn’t, the fail safe device will detonate, this whole mountain will vaporise and, well, we got nothing to worry about.”

 

“Oh good, I feel much better.” Jack speaks the sarcasm that sits unsaid behind Dani’s tongue.

 

**

 

It’s just before lunch, and Dani is hiding in her office, not quite in the mood for lunch in the cafeteria, where she knows she’ll hate the food, and the sub-par coffee. Teal’c enters, followed closely by two SF’s, and he seems to want to speak with her, communicates the desire silently. Still terse. When she waves away the SF’s, they remain.

 

“Sergeant, I will be fine if you just wait outside the closed door.”

 

“But Dr Jackson-“

 

“My office, my rules, out.”

 

Once they leave, there’s an awkward moment.

 

“I assume you wanted to speak to me about something Teal’c?”

 

“O’Neill explained to me why you wish to go through the gate.”

 

“And?”

 

“He explained about you son and husband as well, and why you would not look at me at lunch.”

 

“Ah.” Damn you Jack. “It isn’t personal, I just, I’m not coping so well. Especially with the food here.”

 

“Likewise, the food on your planet is very…”

 

“Over processed.”

 

“Indeed. I mostly felt I should apologise, I chose your siblings, killed your son, and shot you husband, I am largely responsible for your deep sadness.”

 

“You are not. I understand how the Goa’uld rule, you are, were, a slave to them and did their bidding.”

 

“It was still by my hand.”

 

“I do not blame you, do not blame yourself. That you would try, proves you’re a good person. And it’s not that I won’t look at you at lunch, it’s that I have trouble looking at anyone. I spent every meal staring in to my husbands eyes for months, so to look elsewhere feels… wrong.” They make eye contact in that moment, and other words are left unspoken. “Speaking of lunch, we better go.”

 

They both walk out of her office, and she waves the SF’s away entirely, so the walk side by side to the commissary, and secretly she enjoys the way people look at the both of them together in shock. Jack looks far too pleased at lunch, probably by the fact that she’s participating in the conversation a fair bit more, so she throws one of the fries on her plate at him. She was struggling to eat them anyway. And when Teal’c finishes his plate, she just slides her right over, because apparently all Jaffa have near insatiable appetites. For just a moment, her day feels okay, surrounded by Jack, Sam, and Teal’c.

 

**

 

It’s a couple hours later, and she’s hanging with Carter in her office in the P&E department, (nothing to translate or figure out in the AA&T department as of yet), when they both find out about the verdict for Teal’c. It seems outrageous to the both of them, but there doesn’t appear to be a lot they can do about it. All they can do is give their joint lecture on the Dial Home Device, (DHD) and wonder-

 

“What is Major Kawalsky doing in the Embarkation Room?”

 

“Page Colonel O’Neill and General Hammond to the Embarkation Room now.”

 

“Yes Captain.”

 

So there they are, all standing there on the ramp staring at Kawalsky who is staring at the Stargate, when Jack walks in.

 

“Charlie?”

 

“Major Kawalsky?” 

 

“Jack? What am I doing here?”

 

Well, that’s definitely not a good sign, so he’s back to the infirmary and she’s back to her lecture, though she’s a little distracted because, while Feretti is getting better, she really can’t stand to lose Kawalsky too. So as she’s walking through the corridors with Sam, she yawns, because she’s barely slept in a whole week.

 

“When was the last time you slept.”

 

“I… I don’t know.”

 

“Doesn’t help when the whole base goes on alert every two hours.” That would be the problem, if she were staying on base.

 

“No, it’s not that, it’s… Every time I close my eyes, I see them. Abhain, and Sahak, on the ground. And if it’s not that, then I’m worrying about where Sha’re and Skaara are, what is being done to them, what they’ve become.”

 

“I know. But you can’t stay awake forever.”

 

“Just you watch Sammy.” She holds her 12th cup of coffee aloft and chuckles a little.

 

“No one’s called me Sammy since my mom.”

 

“Yours dead too?” Sam looks at her, a little shocked, but a little understanding, yet another thing in common. “You’ve probably got one up on me.”

 

“How so?”

 

“You still got a dad?” Dani is so nonchalant about her dead parents that Sam is pure shock.

 

“Jeez, what part of your life isn’t sad? Just, try and get some sleep would you? You’re the first female friend I’ve had in a while, wouldn’t want you to burn out.”

 

“You’re right… I’ll see you at the next briefing.” And the two separate, Dani dumping the last of her coffee in a nearby bin, making her way to spare bunk quarters to sleep. She practically jumps out of her skin when the hand hangs down in front of her she’s so wired on coffee. So she gets up and turns on the light to find a doctor with his glasses askew and a trickle of blood from his mouth.

 

“Holy fucking… Guard!” An SF enters, surprised by the dead body. “Get Colonel O’Neill, immediately.”

 

She’s interrupted by the klaxons going off, and the alarm of an emergency in the med bay, followed closely by Sam calling for an emergency in the Control Room, and as Dani runs to get Jack, they bump in to each other at the elevator where someone has hit the emergency stop. They get it open to find an unconscious Sam and a lucid Kawalsky. They all gather in Observatory 1 with Kawalsky strapped to what looks like a hamster wheel. And bonus round, they have no such luck in keeping their friends alive and healthy, because there’s a parasite wrapped around his spine.

 

“It’s a… It’s a Goa’uld. Probably an infant.”

 

“They think the reason it hasn’t been able to take you over completely is that it isn’t mature yet.” But they can’t thank god for this small mercy, because they parasite still managed to kill a person.

 

“It’s what’s causing your blackouts.” 

 

“So what are you saying? I got one of those parasites in me? Well how in the hells does that happen?”

 

“We were hoping you could tell us. You didn’t feel it happen?”

 

“No.” Oh god, he has tears dripping out his eyes, Dani doesn’t know if she can take this, but she swallows the hurt at watching another friend taken by these things, and keeps talking to him.

 

“When was the first time you blacked out?”

 

“I was here. We’d just come back through from Chulak. I thought it was just from coming back through the Stargate. We were helping that kid, Kasee was his name, there was a-a sharp… Oh god Jack! I thought I’d wrenched my neck. Anyway Kasee, he was alright, they took him outta there.” A sneak attack from the puck of a dead Jaffa. “Oh god Jack, you gotta help me. You gotta get this thing outta me.”

 

“That’s the plan.” 

 

“When I was out… Did I hurt anybody?” Oh god, what does she tell him? She can’t speak, she looks to Jack to say it, still unemotional and cavalier.

 

“There’s one man dead, a few more hurt.”

 

“Captain Carter is gonna be alright, I was just gonna go check other actually.”

 

“Oh… I didn't mean to-“

 

“No! She doesn’t blame you.”

 

“You’re not responsible Charlie, it’s not your fault. It’s the damn thing that’s inside you. Look, as soon as they know how to do it, they’ll cut it out of you. Right now you gotta fight it.”

 

“I don’t mind telling you, this is scaring me big time.” Kawalsky looks her right in the eye. “And usually I’d refrain from being emotionally vulnerable in front of a beautiful woman like you Doc, but I’m hoping it’ll score me some points.” She laughs a little, the life of an Airforce soldier, humour to avoid serious emotion.

 

“You really do know women Kawalsky, we love a man willing to be weak in front of us.”

 

**

 

Later, Dani is stuck in a briefing with some of the biggest assholes known to man, including Colonel Kennedy.

 

“I know that many of you have served with Major Kawalsky, so please forgive me if what I’m about to suggest appears in any way callous.” It’s definitely gonna be something callous. “But we believe surgical removal of the parasite may be a mistake.”

 

“General, this is a waste of time that Kawalsky does not have.”

 

“Dr Warner, what are Major Kawalsky’s chances of surviving surgery.” Infinitely better than mentally surviving being trapped inside his own body.

 

“10, 12% at most.” Thank you for being so unhelpful.

 

“And the parasite? It is an intelligent being after all, isn’t it Colonel? I believe I first read that in your report.” Ah yes, out of context information used against them, the joy of Dani’s life.

 

“The parasite itself would not survive the procedure.”

 

“So, we’re faced with destroying one life in the hopeless attempt to save another, you see the ethical dilemma we have here gentleman.” Only a dilemma to callous assholes.

 

“No, I don’t.” Dani is starting to get really irritated, she still hasn’t slept, and now they want to let her friend remain a prisoner in his own body, regardless of his own wishes, and Jack seems to be getting equally bugged.

 

“My colleagues and I are completely prepared to perform the procedure General, we’ll do our best.”

 

“Of course you will Doctor.” Condescending callous asshole. “Don’t misunderstand. We all wish the invading parasite could be safely removed from the Majors body. But facts are facts.”

 

“I’m sorry, what was your point.” Even Sam is getting annoyed at Kennedy.

 

“If we proceed with this operation, Major Kawalsky will have died in vain.”

 

“And if we don’t?” Because is that really an option here?

 

“Well let’s consider that for a second. These infant Goa’ulds, if they’re so young, so fragile in their larval state that they require a… a-ah. I’m sorry what did you call yourself again?”

 

“Jaffa.”

 

“For want of a better translation, what, an incubator? How is it that they’re so intelligent?”

 

“A Goa’uld is born with the knowledge of all Goa’uld that came before it.”

 

“Genetic memory.” Dani’s first verbal contribution to this absurd discussion. “That’s amazing.”

 

“Yes it is. All the knowledge of the Goa’ulds. I just want you all to think on that before we throw it away.”

 

“I’ve thought about it. You thought about it?” Dani nods. “You’ve thought about it. I think we’ve all thought about it-” He’s cut off by Hammond’s reprimand for his sarcasm.

 

“Colonel.”

 

“Imagine if we could convince the Goa’uld to share that knowledge.”

 

“A Goa’uld would not willingly share.” Dani feels the need to better explain Teal’c to the fucking dumb Kennedy.

 

“No, Teal’c’s right. I mean to them, we’re nothing, less than nothing. Think about it, they’ve taken on the roles of our ancient gods. What does that tell you.” 

 

“Alright. What if we just studied it? How much could we learn from that? What if we just face up to the fact that Major Kawalsky has no chances of survival and realised that the greatest enemy mankind may ever face has just been delivered right to our doorstep. Even if we let it return through the Stargate as a gesture of good faith, how much do we-” He’s cut off by a now furious Hammond.

 

“Just what kind of an officer are you Colonel?

 

“Sir?!”

 

“As long as there is a snowball’s chance in hell that my officer will come out of this procedure alive, we’ll go ahead with it.”

 

“With regret, General, I feel I should take this to my superiors.”

 

“Well, me? I’ll probably just call the president and get it right from the horses mouth, but sure, you go right ahead Colonel, talk to your superiors. In the mean time, lets get the job done.”

 

A small victory in the scheme of things, but a victory nonetheless, so the continue to experiment on Teal’c’s infant Goa’uld to find the right dosage for the parasite, and hope for a bigger win in Kawalsky’s case. After about an hour, Dani joins Sam to observe the surgery.

 

“At least it’s going well.”

 

“That’s fantastic. If we can reverse whats happened to Charlie than Sha’re and Skaara still have a chance.”

 

“Let’s hope.”

 

“For this, I’ll even pray.”

 

“Not religious?”

 

“Agnostic generally.”

 

So they watch as Dr Warner goes to separate the attached filaments, and Dani’s heart leaps in to her throat when Kawalsky starts seizing. It’s over in a second, but it gives her a bad feeling. Nonetheless, they get the thing out of him, and it seems to all that Kawalsky is free and all is well. 

 

**

 

Dani arrives at Kawalsky’s bedside just after it’s been ascertained that he’ll walk, that he’s the luckiest man alive. Because he’s still alive, and thank whatever deity is up there for that. She catches the end of something Jack says.

 

“Piece of cake.”

 

“Charlie. I heard you were awake. I’m glad you’re ok.” A sweet smile graces her face.

 

“Well Doc, what else was I supposed to do? I had to make sure someone took you dancing now that you’re back.”

 

“Ha ha Kawalsky, I’ll be sure to take you up on that, the second you’re out of bed.”

 

“So long as I get to take you back to one.”

 

“Charlie!” Jack’s good natured rebuke is oddly comfortable, the remembrance of their very first mission altogether.

 

“Anyways, Colonel Kennedy will be taking it with him for study, so I figured, if you wanted to see it.”

 

“Are you talking about that thing that was in my head?”

 

“Danielle thinks it’s fascinating.”

 

“No, I just thought you might want to see it.”

 

“No!” Sam enters behind them with bad news as Kawalsky rejects the idea outright.

 

“Hey, I just heard. Teal’c’s getting shipped out to Langley, Kennedy’s taking him with him.”

 

“What for?”

 

“Study. That’s Kennedy’s word.”

 

“Right. Like a damn lab rat. Apparently Kennedy’s ethics are selective.” Dani follows Jack as he storms out the room, not really knowing why she does.

 

**

 

Nothing seems to go their way today, because it turns out, the seizure was the snake ejecting its own body, fusing permanently to Kawalsky. It was the one flirting with her, and isn’t that a horrifying thought. But now it’s dead, and he’s dead, and Dani feels like there’s no hope right now, because it didn’t work. There’s no way to save the last of her family. Sam remains optimistic, though Dani sarcastically quips in her head that it’s her own prerogative to be wrong.

 

“If anything, it proves there’s still hope for Sha’re and Skaara.”

 

“How?”

 

“Because only Major Kawalsky could have known the auto destruct codes.”

 

“So something of the host must survive.”

 

But at least they win the Teal’c debate, so he joins their team on their standard recon of P3-575 rather than being taken to be a lab rat. All in all, it’s a fair trade for the day. They lose Kawalsky and gain Teal’c. Or at least, that’s how Dani has to think about it to survive, otherwise it’s just another loss in a mass of others. Dani fastens her helmet on right before she walks through the event horizon, and that’s the beginning of yet another adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I added some content in there, so headcanon convo's are in effect, whoop. Aaaaaaand Kawalsky is dead. Honestly, at this point, Dani can not get any sadder so... Enjoy.
> 
> I should mention, from last chapter, italics are written in english but spoken in abydonian, and words emphasis is underlined.


	3. Emancipation - Season One Episode Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning now: This has rape in it

It’s weeks later and they’ve finally developed a system as a team. Dani and Sam say something, Teal’c is silent, and Jack ignores them both, most of the time at least. So here they are, Sam the last to walk through the gate to their latest destination.

 

“What a mess.” Dani notes their messy surroundings, rocks and such overgrown by plant life. She’s found that stating the obvious gets Jack to listen to her at least a little, and generally garners some input by Teal’c.

 

“This temple was destroyed long ago.”

 

“Let’s get a move on before we meet somebody who remembers why.” Yes, let’s obviously avoid hostiles Jack. Dani wonders if it’s the wrong moment to say ‘nah duh’… Probably is.

 

They all walk together in pairs, Dani beside Sam, and they find absolutely nothing for a good two hours.

 

“There’s no signs of human life.” And there goes Dani’s use on the mission, unless they find some ruins.

 

“This could be some forbidden zone.”

 

“Wait… I hear something. Sounds like dogs.” Dani also hears what Sam hears, and they all look to a young man running from a pack of dogs down the hill towards them. Jack fires his gun in to the air to scare off what appears to be four German Shepherds and approaches the out of breath young man. Dani follows, because Teal’c and Sam follow the dogs to make sure they don’t come back, and if the young man doesn’t speak English, she’s the one who can help. But he responds to Jack in English. And calls himself Abu of the Shavadai.

 

“Shavadai? Good news Jack, my language degree won’t be needed today. But these guys are…”

 

“The people of the Steppe.”

 

“Well hello. I’m Danielle, this is…”

 

“Jack… O’Neill.”

 

“You are a woman?” He seems a little insulted by that fact. “You are not from the people of the River.” 

 

“No.”

 

“We’re travellers from very far away.”

 

“The Sea of Ogadda?” He seems to be mostly ignoring Dani. Jack introduces the others when they come back to tell them the dogs are gone, and Abu is doubly insulted, speaking almost secretively to Jack. “This is another woman?!”

 

“Do I have something growing out of my nose.”

 

“No Sam, he’s been equally upset at me for the same thing. Must be cultural.” Sam goes to Jack’s side but Abu is more enraged by that, puts his hand in front of her face and exclaims quite upset.

 

“No! I cannot look at you.”

 

“Ok, now I’m hurt.”

 

Three men on horses come over the peak of the hill, and Abu seems to panic a little.

 

“You must go! You must take your women and go!”

 

None of them move as the horses approach them, but later, Dani kind of wishes they had left then. Abu says something to them, and they all seem equally if not more offended at the sight of Dani and Sam.

 

“Colonel I think these people are Mongols.”

 

“This is good news?”

 

“Dani, can you find out what we did wrong so we can fix it?”

 

Abu seems to be trying to make the men on horses leave, but one dismounts and approaches them. Dani tries her best at dissuading any unnecessary violence but apparently not because the man pushes her back to Sam, and brandishes a rather large sword. Jack’s method of firing the gun in to the air seems to do a much better job, at least of getting them to back off a little and spook their horses. In fact, all but Danielle are now pointing weapons at these guys when another Mongol comes to join them, and judging purely by the hat, he’s someone important. Apparently, Abu’s father, worried about him, and Abu explains that they saved him, but this new man seems not even slightly fussed by the presence of Dani and Sam.

 

“Is this any way to greet a stranger?”

 

“Those two are women.”

 

“They are from the Sea Of Ogadda, they do not know our ways.”

 

“What manner of weapon is this.” Sam answers his question, but apparently she wasn’t meant to. This is beginning to remind her of home a little, in fact, that might be precisely the thing offending them.

 

“It’s a fire arm. It shoots like your bow shoots an arrow.”

 

“She speaks, she dies.” And wow is that an overreaction, so now everyone is pointing their weapons again.

 

“No! No, she saved my life.” Apparently that fact is enough to saved theirs.

 

“If a woman saved a life, hers cannot be taken. Now, you are my guests. If you will travel this country, you must learn our ways.”

 

“I’m thinking we should go home while we’re ahead.”

 

“If we learn their customs, we should be ok. It probably won’t be dissimilar to Abydonian culture judging by the way they’re acting. It would be an incredible chance to study an ancient culture up close.” 

 

Dani wins that point, and they follow the Shavadai, Dani suggesting to Sam that they both keep their heads down and mouths shut until she says otherwise, seems like the safest option. And it is, because when they get to the camp of the Shavadai, both Dani and Sam are lead away by a woman wearing a veil over most of her face. Teal’c and Jack follow them in to a tent, and Dani looks around, amazed.

 

“This is unbelievable. The Mongols who settled in Persian China adapted to the local customs, but there was one tribe, the Chagatai, who kept the traditional life of the Steppe nomad, maybe these Shavadai are their descendants. I mean, uh, this camp could literally belong to Ghengis Khan, it’s a living exhibit of a way of life that’s been extinct for nine hundred years.”

 

Hat man enters, already much cheerier, telling both Dani and Sam that they may talk.

 

“Good, because, uh, I still don’t understand what happened out there.”

 

“Among our people, it is death for a woman to show her face in public.”

 

“It was once the same on Abydos.” Dani interjects.

 

“And to wear the clothes of a man.” Abu is definitely less cheerful than his father.

 

“The old laws weigh heavily. It is well you saved Abu from the dogs, it gave me a way to prevent both of your deaths.”

 

“Thank you for that.”

 

“Soon, the old laws, and the old ways, will no longer serve us. Trade will one day replace war, this is the future. We have strongest, fastest, horses and camels, the finest wool.”

 

“And medicines. Drugs of unheard of power.”

 

“Oh, we’ve got some pretty swell drugs of our own.”

 

“Colonel, a lot of breakthroughs in medicine are coming out of the mountains and jungles. We should really see what he’s got.”

 

“I will show you. Follow me.”

 

“I’m afraid neither of you can leave the tent until you are properly attired.”

 

“Properly attired?”

 

“We should probably do what they want Sam. Us anthropologists do it all the time. We dress and live as the people we’re studying.”

 

“Unlike you, Dani, I’m not an anthropologist.”

 

“You are today.” Jack says it a little joyfully, and the matter is closed, so the men leave the tent, and the women are given more appropriate attire. Abu’s mother asks which of them would like the blue, and which would like the red, and before Dani can say anything, Sam chooses for her.

 

“Well considering blue is a royal colour, and Dani is the royal one here, I think it should go to her.”

 

“You are royal.”

 

“I was married and adopted in to a royal family, yes but-“

 

“Then you will wear the blue.”

 

“Great. Thanks Sammy.”

 

“You’re welcome Dani.” Dani squints her eyes at a mischievous Sam, but they both get dressed in the Shavadai traditional dress. As the men rejoin them, Sami is complaining to her.

 

“Danielle, find me an anthropologist who dresses like this and I will eat this headdress.”

 

“Well, I-“ The men are staring at them. Abu is doing so very strongly, and it’s starting to creep Dani out.

 

“You are… the most beautiful women I have ever seen.”

 

He leaves shortly after.

 

“Guess the kid doesn’t get out much.” Dani thinks it’s more than that, something weighs on his mind, but she doesn’t know what. “Look, I will not wear this thing over my face, no matter how much embroidery it has on it, and this.. dress, or whatever it’s called, I mean. I can’t move, I can’t walk.”

 

“Then you shouldn’t have picked the littler red one for yourself.”

 

“I don’t know, I think it’s working for me.” Jack levels his gaze at Dani a little.

 

“Oh yeah, it’s so very us. I think the headdress specifically is definitely your style Sammy.”

 

“It’s definitely you.” Both women squint sarcastically at Jack whilst he ogles, which seems to wake him up a little. “Good news, one of Abu’s plants seems to work as an anaesthetic. We grabbed some to take home to be analysed. All things considered… Samantha, Danielle, if we decided to come back here, it might be prudent if it were an all male team. No offence.”

 

“Well, given that you two get to go party while we stay in this yurt that smells like yak butter, none taken.” Dani is more than a little salty she doesn’t get to actually study the culture other than its clothing. “I’ll just get a good nights sleep and Sam and I will hope for better luck next time.”

 

Teal’c leaves, and they both wave the good bye, but Jack remains to ogle a little, compliment them, and then exit.

 

“Well, this is not my favourite mission, by far.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

“The good news is, judging by what we know of earth’s Mongols, that drink they’re gonna have out there is most likely going to contain something vaguely disgusting expelled by a yak.”

 

“Well, bully for the boys eh?”

 

A few women, like Abu’s mother join them in the tent for a while, and the women have many questions for Dani.

 

“You are married?”

 

“I was… My son and husband were both killed recently.”

 

“That is hard, to lose a husband and a son, but you travel and dress like a man, though you are royal.”

 

“My sister and brother were taken by an enemy, I promises my father I would get them back. It is not strange in my culture for a woman to fight.” The women leave soon after, leaving Dani with just Sam in the yurt.

 

“Can I ask… When we met, you seemed to look to Abhain for permission to touch, and he did not seem fond of the Colonel, though apparently they never met before. Why is that.”

 

“Well… On Abydos, in Nagadan culture, a married woman is answerable to her husband, mostly.”

 

“Mostly?”

 

“I still had free will, and Abhain often joked I was independent to a fault, but it was a gesture of respect and love that I asked his permission. And other than that, he was insanely jealous of Jack.”

 

“Jealous?” Sam seems to think the thought is laughable.

 

“Skaara told Abhain all about Jack, he adored him, and who else would he tell than his older brother whom he also adored. And the Abydonians always thought Jack was interested in me, so when Jack sent the tissues, made it clear he wanted to come back, Abhain wanted to close the gate for good. It was so funny, how wrong he was.”

 

“I mean, I don’t think the Abydonians were all that wrong. You should’ve seen Colonel O’Neill’s face when you kissed Abhain. Heck, you saw his face just then.”

 

“You’re wrong, on both counts. Now come on, let’s get some sleep.” They both settle down next to each other.

 

“Sure, Cleopatra, Queen of.”

 

“I’m not in denial.”

 

“Goodnight Dani.”

 

“Goodnight Sam.”

 

**

 

When Dani wakes, its to a cold blade against her neck, rope around her wrists and a gag in her mouth. She struggles but it’s useless, and she can vaguely hear someone doing the same to Sam. This is so not her day. Abu lets them sit near a stream, removes the gag from their mouths, and steps away.

 

“You better kill me now, ‘cause I am gonna talk.”

 

“Gee, great idea Sam, the perfect way to get us murdered.”

 

“Here, you may eat and drink.”

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Sam, let’s be nice to the man who has us tied up.”

 

“There’s something I want, more than life itself, and until yesterday, I thought it was impossible. Then I saw you both dressed like that, and I knew your beauty would buy it for me. When my mother told me of your royal status, I knew you would more than fetch the right price.”

 

“So this is all your fault. Shouldn’t have gone around telling strangers I’m a princess.”

 

“Wait, shut up Dani. What do you mean buy?”

 

“I will trade you.”

 

“Y-you can’t do that.”

 

“I can.”

 

“Hold up Abu, we’re human beings, not property!” Dani might be little mad at Sam for making this worse, but hell if she’ll shut up and listen to Abu talk like they’re objects.

 

“Where we are going, the men are not as tolerant as my father, be warned.” 

 

That doesn’t sound good to either of the women, so they make slightly frightened eye contact, eat, drink, and shut up. Turns out, Abu isn’t as tolerant as his father either, at least not to strangers. The two are back on their horse together, tied and gagged, and eventually they come upon another camp of Mongols. Dani’s eyes flit over the scene laid out before her, and she hopes that Jack is already on his way, because she is not really feeling this. They meet Turghan, and are presented to him, like wares for sale. 

 

“You think these interest me.”

 

“I think they will.” Abu removes their veils and gags again, and they see Turghan perk up at the sight of them. Sam is immediately dominant, and Dani wishes she had a mute button, because it definitely won’t help. 

 

 

“We don’t belong to this man. He abducted us against our will.”

 

“Where are they from?”

 

“The Sea of Ogadda. This one is of the royal family, and a widow, already proven fertile.” He gestures to Dani for the last part. This definitely feels degrading to Dani.

 

“Our friends will come after us. They have weapons more powerful than you can imagine and they won’t hesita-“ Sam is cut off by Turghan and by an elbow to the ribs by Dani. 

 

“Silence, or I will have you beaten.”

 

“You may do whatever you wish with her, with either of them, when they are yours.”

 

“Then I would see them.” Abu removes both of their headdresses completely, revealing their short hair.

 

“Turn.” Dani immediately does as Abu says, turning in a slow circle. Sam doesn’t.

 

“The princess is obedient.”

 

“Turn around!”

 

“No.”

 

Turghan comes at her, puts a knife to her throat, and forces her to turn in a circle.  

 

“This one’s skin is very fair. Tell me princess. The child you bore, what was it?”

 

“A son.” Dani’s heart stops for a second, just mentioning Sahak makes her heart ache.

 

“Very good.” His attention turns back to Sam. “Look at me.” She does, though it’s more of an icy glare. “Your eyes… are the colour of blue river stones.” He turns back to Dani. “You.” She makes eye contact. “Yours are of a pale blue sky… even more rare. Sit.”

 

Having now inspected the merchandise, Turghan returns back to his throne like chair. Abu tries to make Sam sit, but she remains obstinate so he gives up, and Dani is on the other side of her, so at the very least, she remains standing with Sam for solidarity’s sake.

 

“Are you satisfied.”

 

“Name your price.” And now they’re doomed. If he had refused them, they might have stood a chance, but now, Dani knows, that Abu will negotiate for whatever it is he wants, and no matter what he ends up with, they will be his. At which point, Abu hesitates at the entrance of a young girl in grey who kneels at Turghan’s side.

 

“Why do you hesitate? So name it. Gold, horses, weapons, I have the finest metal craftsmen in the mountains.”

 

“No.” Dani notices the way he looked at the girl. It’s definitely the girl he wants.

 

“What then?”

 

“Nya.”

 

Turghan seems outraged at the request. Dani wonders, is it his wife, or his daughter.

 

“You would trade two women, for one?”

 

“Nya is not just a woman.” Good two know that a two for one deal seems reasonable to Abu, especially given this Nya girl is so special that Dani and Sam don’t count as women the same way she does. Dani is equally as irked by her feminist inclinations as Sam now.

 

“No, she is my daughter.” Dani knew it had to be one of the two. “She will marry a chieftain, the desert warlord Chimakka.” And he sounds just delightful. Nya certainly seems to agree with Dani’s inner sarcastic monologue.

 

“Father please.”

 

“It is done! Chimakka will come on the next moon.”

 

“That is three days.”

 

“How can you do that to your own daughter?” 

 

‘Damn it Sam, shut up already.’ Dani thinks as Turghan approaches them yet again.

 

“Your beauty will not suffer my anger much longer. Nor will your partners obedience make me complacent. The offer for both women is 300 weights in gold. Take it or die.”

 

Dani sees an opening in Abu’s failing negotiations to at least save Sam.

 

“Master Turghan, I humbly request you free my fellow woman. She is untaught in the ways of a woman, cooking, and many other things. Furthermore, she is obstinate and disobedient. As a princess of my people, and as a wife of a dead man, I will be of much more value to you, if you let Samantha return to my people.”

 

“If you are so obedient, why now do you speak when not spoken to?”

 

“To save her. From hence, if you accept this deal with Abu, pay him my worth of 150 weights in gold, and let Samantha leave with him, I will be completely obedient.”

 

“Dani, no! Don’t you dare touch her!” 

 

‘God damn it Sam,’ Dani thinks, ‘couldn’t you just shut up long enough for me to get you out of here?’

 

“It appears your friend does not agree to the deal.” He turns back to Abu. “300 weights. Take it or die. Either way the women are mine.”

 

Abu seems deeply disappointed but he takes the gold and leaves, and Nya bursts in to tears in another woman’s arms. Turghan immediately backhands Sam across the face.

 

“Here, a woman does not speak unless she is spoken to, you would do well to follow your princess friend’s example. And for you princess, you are now my wife. I expect you to complete your wifely duties tonight.” 

 

Dani withholds the cringe and nods. replacing her headdress, making sure Sam does the same, and following Turghan as he leads they to an area surrounded by sheets, so they don’t have to replace their veils. Sam stands with her back to him, and Dani kneels beside him near the fire, her head down in the hopes that, by behaving, she can keep Turghan from being enraged by Sam.

 

“You are now Tougai. Women of the Forest. What can you do, can you cook? Spin? Weave? Make dyes?”

 

“I’m a lousy cook and I couldn’t spin, weave, or dye if my life depended on it. You made yourself a bad deal.”

 

“As I said earlier husband, Sam is not taught in this way. I am an adequate cook, and I am excellent at spinning, weaving, and making dyes.”

 

“Where one fails, the other excels, even addressing me properly. But you, where you come from, you must have done something.”

 

“In my world, I am a warrior and a scholar, Danielle is also a scholar, I do the work of men, so does she.” Now Sam is being intentionally inflammatory, just to piss him off, which is great. He stands, and Dani doesn’t move an inch from the ground.

 

“A warrior? Well let me tell you what I do. I raid and burn the tents of my enemies. Slaughter the men, trade the women and children. For this, I am feared, and because of that fear, I have the allegiance of twenty-two tribes.”

 

“But you have to sell your daughter off to make it twenty-three.”

 

“How would you like to be hung upside down, with dust filled rags stuffed in your mouth and nostrils. A slow death from suffocation.” Finally Sam stops being so aggressive, to Dani’s relief.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sure you know what’s best for her.”

 

“The spirits have brought you here to teach you how to be a woman. And the princess to give me a son, that which my other wives have not be able to provide.”

 

Thankfully, that’s the end of that, and they are left alone to work. Sam is made to cut things, and thankfully, the other women let Dani sit next to her to help by advising her, even while she weaves baskets quickly and proficiently. They talk amongst themselves while they work.

 

“Dani, what the hell were you doing?”

 

“Trying to keep us from being whipped. Turghan clearly doesn’t respect women. If you had just let me finish, I could have gotten you back to Jack, so only one of us was stuck here.”

 

“But you’re practically selling your body to him. He made it very clear what he expected of you tonight. We have to get out of here before then.”

 

“Sam, we can sit and hope for Jack to get us out of here before tonight comes, but if he doesn’t get here, well I’m just going to have to do what I have to do to keep you safe. I’ll be fine.”

 

“Dani…”

 

“I promise, I will be just-“

 

They both notice as Nya breaks down in tears, and all of the women leave them to comfort her. Sam doesn’t waste a single second, tucking the knife she was using in to the waistband of her dress, and running out of the covered area, straight for the horses. Dani immediately follows, if only because if she goes with her, at least she can try to bear the brunt of the punishment if they fail to escape. They jump on the horse together, and it really does seem as if they’ll making it, but a border scout whistles and the horse bucks them off, the scouts dragging them both back to Turghan himself. They even find Sam’s knife.

 

“What kind of woman are you. Do you respect nothing, care for no one but yourself. You even drag your friend with you in to disobedience. These were responsible for you, now because of you, they will be punished.”

 

 A middle aged woman, who looks a fair amount like Nya, perhaps her mother, hands him a cat-o-nine tails whip, and turns to kneel. He rips her under dress to reveal her back, and as he rears back to strike, Sam apparently decides that’s the moment to interfere yet again.

 

“No. It was my fault, if you need to beat a woman to feel like a man, try me.” It seems to have a little effect.

 

“I value spirit in my horses, not my women.” Turghan throws away Sam’s headdress and grabs her roughly by the hair to kiss her. “You belong to me. You will learn your place and be obedient, or you will suffer far worse than a beating.”

 

Sam is sent out, but Dani is told to remain.

 

“That you would follow your friend shows you are not as obedient as you pretend to be wife. For that, I feel the best way to remind you who you belong to is to take what is mine now, rather than at night fall. On your back.”

 

Dani knows what is coming, so she closes her eyes, lies on her back, and pretends she can not hear him. When he moves her limbs, and removes her clothes, she lets him. When she feels the stab of pain from her lack of bodily consent, she does not make a sound. When he finishes, she does not even let herself cry at the feeling of wetness inside. And when he leaves and the women help her dress in to some drab versions of the clothing of the Shavadai, she finally lets a single sob free. They try to comfort her, but all she wants is to see Sam, who she knows will be worrying about her.

 

“They said he was taking what was his, and I was so worried… Did he…?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Oh god Dani, I’m so sorry, we shouldn’t have tried to run.”

 

“Yes we should have. At least now we know about the border scouts.”

 

“It’s not worth the cost.”

 

“Sam, please, just let it go. I’m not bleeding, so it’s not as bad as it could have been.” Nya sits beside them as Sam plucks grapes.

 

“I heard what you did for my mother. I am grateful.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

“We are all afraid. If you do not obey, my father will kill you.”

 

“We know.”

 

“My father is a good man.” Nya certainly doesn’t sound convinced, even as she says it. “He never mistreats a woman unless she has done something wrong.”

 

“Done something? There is no excuse to beat a woman, ever.”

 

“He is a powerful warlord. Our women and our children and always protected, always have food.”

 

“How can you defend him? He’s packing you off to marry a total stranger.”

 

“That’s not always the worst thing Sam.” Dani remembers being told by Kasuf that she would marry Abhain, a man she did not know, just because he was interested, with fondness. It meant she mattered, that he would give her to his eldest son, a position of importance among the royal family of Nagada.

 

“Your situation with Abhain is different. Was different. You loved each other.”

 

“Only after we were married. It is common in older cultures.”

 

“He was also, essentially, your brother. He wasn’t some distant warlord you were being sold to for more power.”

 

“I have no choice. I am not free to choose.”

 

“And you never will be until one of you says no.”

 

Another woman comes to collect the bowl Sam was putting the singular grapes in to. There is silence while she is there, but when she leaves, Nya speaks again.

 

“I want to say it. Will you help me?”

 

Sam takes Nya’s hand, and Dani just knows that there is a lot more trouble that they’re going to get in to here, but they may as well, while they’re in this mess, make a little more of it. At which point, there is a loud commotion, which Sam goes to check out.

 

“Yes! Good news, the guys are here.” Sam grabs a small rag, sets it alight, and puts it near one of the fabric walls of their enclosure. The ground catches on fire, creating a distraction for Nya to escape, to be with Abu. What they don’t know, is the conversation that Jack, Teal’c, and Abu’s father are having with Turghan.

 

“I paid 300 weights of gold for the princess, and the other.”

 

“Is that a lot?” Jack asks, oblivious to the economic system around here.

 

“Enough for 10 women.” Moughal answers.

 

“How much are you willing to spend to get her back? We’ll pay you back.”

 

“We will offer 350 weights of gold.”

 

“Perhaps I will return the difficult one. Though she is beautiful. But the princess is already mine. I have made her wife, and claimed her. Both such rare prizes.”

 

“400.”

 

“I may even make the other a wife too.” Turghan is clearly messing with them, but they won’t stop, Jack in near furious thinking of what ‘claimed her’ means.

 

“Oh for crying out loud. 500. We’ll pay you back, I promise.”

 

“Why these one? I have others, younger, able to bear many sons. Enough to build your own tribe.”

 

Thankfully, in Danielle’s usually tactful place, Teal’c speaks next rather than letting Jack say anything rash.

 

“One, as you well know, is a princess. The other, she is a woman of power for our people. Not only a warrior, but a shaman. She knows the things the gods tell her. When to plant grain, when water will be scarce.”

 

“You take me for a fool?”

 

“He speaks truly. In the land of Ogadda the women are as ours were, long ago.” Jack decides to run with it as best he can.

 

“That and more. Danielle and Samantha are chieftains among our people, we need them both.”

 

“Get out. You have nothing I want.”

 

Jack then gets very very frustrated.

 

“Oh yeah?” He fires his gun at a lamp in the yurt. startling all, but thankfully, it intrigues Turghan enough.

 

“Done.”

 

**

 

They are let to go with the men, Turghan too distracted by the joy at the Beretta to think of the women, whom are let to go, tied up and gagged again, each one on a horse with one of the men. Dani with Jack, and Sam with Moughal. Once it gets dark and they stop to make camp, they’re freed and let to change back in to their BDU’s. 

 

“Oof! What a relief. I’ve never been so happy to see you guys.” Sam is chipper as, but Dani is feeling significantly more reserved right now.

 

“Well sure you have. Remember that time on P3X 595, where you drank that stuff that made you take off your-“

 

“Jack, stop. It’s not funny.” Dani’s tone practically sucks the life out of the campsite.

 

“We certainly won’t get in to it right now. Moughal, I want to thank you for your help.” 

 

“We will leave at first light.” Moughal seems to be in an even darker mood than Dani.

 

“I don’t blame you for what Abu did. I don’t him either.”

 

“Neither of us do.”

 

“He is suffering the madness, as I did when I was young.” Well that’s certainly a bit cryptic, though thankfully Jack explains.

 

“It’s what they call love.”

 

“Ah, got it.” 

 

Thankfully, soon, most everyone goes to bed, tries to get some rest, but Dani remains to stare at the last embers of the fire. She feels too awake, even without coffee. She feels Jack sit down next to her.

 

“So… Don’t feel like sleeping?”

 

“I don’t think I could close my eyes.”

 

“Y’know, Turghan mentioned he had already ‘claimed’ the princess. Does that mean…?”

 

“It means exactly what you think it means Jack. Sam and I tried to escape, and because of that, he laid his claim to me to teach me a lesson, of who I belonged to.”

 

“Dani, I- God I want to kill him. I wanna go back and kill him.”

 

“It wouldn’t do any good I just. How do I not feel as though I’ve insulted Abhain’s memory?”

 

“You didn’t Dani. If anything, you honoured it by surviving.”

 

**

 

Dani oversleeps a little, awakening with a start as she hears Sam ask where Nya is. Abu is there.

 

“She came to me, just like the wind said she would. But before we could make our way, her father caught us. Now, if you don’t help me, she will be stoned to death. Curse me for the madness. Better to have left her to marry Chimakka.” Even Moughal disagrees there.

 

“I would not see anything I cared for go to Chimakka.”

 

“Can I get a little clarification here? Her own father ordered her stoned to death, is that right?”

 

“Because she broke the law of the land.”

 

“Turghan is compelled to uphold the law, even more if it applies to his own. He must rule by example.”

 

“We have to go back. Now!”

 

“Negative.”

 

“She can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.”

 

“Captain if we go get that little girl out, we could be starting a war on this planet.”

 

“Since when were you a politician Colonel?”

 

“Easy Captain.”

 

“Dei oppresso libre, to liberate from oppression, special forces motto.”

 

“I know what it is. That’s our world. This is theirs.”

 

“Jack we have to, Sam and I helped her escape, her fate is our fault.”

 

“But do we have the right to interfere in their culture and their laws.”

 

“Yes.” Both women have a weird moment where they speak at the same time, emphatically so, and Sam continues for the both of them.

 

“I don’t know if you’re getting this sir, but they are going to kill this girl just for being in love with this boy.”

 

“Please, use your weapons and free her.”

 

“The Colonel is right.” Moughal cuts in to the argument. “It would mean war Abu. You must choose, between one woman, and your people.”

 

“I cannot.”

 

“Jack neither can I, Sam and I helped her escape, her death would be our fault.”

 

“But if it is one life for many-“ Dani cuts in to Teal’c’s contribution, because for a second, she has a flash of inspiration, a solution that keeps the peace.

 

“Wait. There has to be another way. Moughal, what about the old laws? Isn’t there something we can…”

 

“Yes… Yes, if we fight with law, Turghan can not make war.” Abu turns to his father, hopes returning. “Father, please, think, remember, there must be a law.”

 

“There is one.”

 

When they approach Turghan’s camp just in time, Turghan turns away the challenge from Moughal, on somewhat reasonable humanitarian grounds. Sam and Dani look at each other, and they’re in silent agreement, Sam will do better in a fight against him, she’s better trained.

 

“We have two other chieftains at our disposal. I challenge it.”

 

“You. You plague me.”

 

“Then fight. Here’s your chance to shut me up once and for all.”

 

“I will abide by the spirits, let them decide justly.”

 

Dani stands back and watches as Jack chats to Sam, helping her prep a little for her fight, and yet, Dani feels no sense of foreboding in this, so she’s already confident Sam will be fine. Though, she feels a little uncomfortable when Turghan pulls out a really big knife, and soon there’s is another blade really close to her neck. She watches on as Sam dodges Turghan for some time, landing her own knife in him, which ramps up his attacks. Sam lands a fair few kicks to his face, which are infinitely gratifying to Dani, and she eventually disarms him, a knife to his neck as he lays flat on his back. Nya comes forward, calling Sam’s name.

 

“Please don’t kill him.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“You don’t have to, you have won, I am free to go with Abu.”

 

“She is free to go.”

 

“And the Shavadai?”

 

“By law there can be no war between us.”

 

“And me? Dani?” He tries to remain silent, but she presses her knife a little harder in to him.

 

“You have won. You are both, also, free to go.”

 

**

 

Now that they’re all safely back at the Shavadai camp, Moughal tries to entice them in to staying for the wedding.

 

“Oh, a six day wedding. Y’know, we really should be getting back.”

 

“But Abu, we wish you and Nya many happy days, with many healthy sons and daughters.”

 

As they go to leave, they hear Moughal call for the freedom of all Shavadai, at which point the fabric walls come down and all the women are free from their veils.

 

“It is how you and Danielle will be remembered, Samantha.”

 

Finally, things are starting to look up in their adventures in the galaxy, though Dani is going to make sure she takes a morning after pill, and gets an intravenous contraceptive device, because if this happens again, she wants to feel a little more prepared. As they walk back to the gate, they all joke about the anaesthetic, and Oprah, which confuses Teal’c. All in all, could have been worse, which is starting to feel a lot like Dani’s motto at this point. And every day spent doing this, being around the sarcastic brightness of Jack, the unyielding stubbornness of Sam, the stoicism of Teal’c, Dani hurts a little less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one slides reeeeaaaaally far away from canon, obviously, but I felt that Dani couldn't logically get out of being taken and traded as a woman, and she also couldn't take the place of Sam, because I feel like Dani, as the episode shows, would see it from a certain angle of it being their culture, and also trying to protect Sam. Basically, this episode is just bad for Dani, and I hate the episode with a passion but, I'm trying to do a comprehensive thing. 
> 
> I also had to have Jack and Teal'c take some of Daniel's lines in the original, for obvious reasons, so sorry if they're a bit OOC. Hopefully it was enjoyable nonetheless.
> 
> Peace out, Blue
> 
> **Edit: I wrote this after 24 hours of no sleep, so I'm very sorry for the mistakes and stuff, which hopefully have all been fixed now. The good news is, I've since slept and awoken to this free to the public on the internet travesty. Yaaaaaaay! Hope y'all enjoy it, or not, because gross. Next episode is not much better, more rape, and attempted rape. First season is, so far, very cruel to Dani.


	4. The Broca Divide - Season One Episode Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me forever because I hate this episode, but it does have a hint of Dani/Jack so yay! Off screen rape, so be warned.

It’s maybe two months later when the next interesting thing happens. It’s been two very awkward months, with Jack tip toeing around her uncomfortably, which makes her incredibly happy she no longer spent her nights, what few she went home for, in his spare guest room

It starts in yet another of the many mildly useless and very boring briefings that Dani has to attend as a member of SG1 and head of AA&T. Hammond is doing the same thing he always does, walking and talking, stating the obvious that everyone has already read from the file in front of them. He talks on the refugees from Chulak, getting the final four glyphs, which Dani got from them personally, it is her job, and disregarding the final symbol as point of origin, because duh, Dani feels like she might drop her head to the table from boredom. She refrains, but barely.

“Captain Carter’s computer model has thus far extrapolated only one set of symbols from the Abydos cartouche that contains these three glyphs.”

“Let me guess, that’s where we’re going.” Jack seems equally as bored, and trapped here, as Hammond’s 2IC.

“Very good Colonel.”

“Thank you sir. I pride myself on my deductive reasoning skills.” Dani has to bite back the sarcastic ‘sure you do’ but lets Jack continue to make light all on his own. Even Sam seems amused.

General Hammond continues to talk about how they are going to be visiting what they’ve designated as P3X797, and all of these other, probably important, details that Dani is only half listening to. She’s mostly noticing a Marine giving a bad look to Teal’c, who also notices. She cuts in with an absentminded thought.

“Can’t we call it something that’s easier to remember?”

Sam replies with something with scientific importance, but honestly Dani hasn’t had enough coffee to care, because mostly she just wishes she could hold on to a name and not a ‘binary system designation’. Even Jack agrees. And there’s more details that don’t really concern Dani, she’s still half thinking about all the different possible ancient cultures she has to order books and specialists in for, like Sumerian. She hopes someone respectable knows an expert in Sumerian cultures that would work for mysterious branch of the Airforce. She’s brought out of her thoughts by a rather genuinely concerned question from the Colonel.

“Why no playback?”

“It appears to be very dark where the gate resides on this planet.” 

Hammond only seems moderately ashamed when Dani brings up the fact that they’re being asked to walk in to unknown territory where they think hostile aliens are likely to reside with little to no recon. Which prompts the SG3 Marine buttheads to preen like the asshole peacocks they are, which is no comfort. When their leader says something about watching their behinds, Dani feels the desperate need to sass, so she does.

“Actually, it’s more my front I was worried about.” She withholds calling him a dumbass out loud though.

**

All protests having been fully ignored, and even though she doesn’t even have things to pack this time for this mission, Dani still somehow is kind of late to the Gateroom. It’s a wonder they’ve never left without her. When she does get there, she gets handed goggles of some kind, which prompts her to make a quip about her own prescription. Sam and Jack follow along on the fairly amusing conversation until the wormhole is established. Jack makes sure SG1 gets to go through first, which doesn’t sound safe to Dani, which she says to Jack as privately as is possible.

“If Skaara or Sha’re are on the other side, those jar heads will open fire as soon as they see the light of their eyes, if you know what I mean. You want that?”

Which, when he phrases it that way, she likes this plan a little better, though its still a bad plan. At that, Dani tentatively follows after Teal’c and Sam. At first it seems fine, they arrive on the other side of the wormhole in what appears to be a very dark rainforest. They all lower their night vision goggles to ‘fan out’ at Jack’s whispered command. Which is when it all goes to shit.

When the Marines finally come to scare off their attackers, who grunt and grumble in to the trees, Dani sits up, her goggles comically askew on her face, her ribs aching from one of the many fists that landed on her. All in all, not the worst that’s happened to her on the job yet. Still, she mentally agrees with Makepeace’s quip. She stands and dusts some of the dirt off herself, and after Jack quips right back, she cuts in with much more important things.

“What were those things?”

“No idea.” Jack flips the one Makepeace shot over, and they’re all confused and surprised to find what, judging by looks alone, is a caveman.

They begin to follow the group that had run from them, and when they finally make it to what appears to be a primitive camp site, Dani has to put her glasses back on to make a proper assessment of the creatures before them as Jack asks her to.

“Danielle, what are they?”

“Well, they don’t look completely Homo sapien. Uh, the, uh, larger brow ridge would imply Homo erectus but then again, they’d have canine teeth if that were the case. Uh, they could be Australopithecus but the brow ridge would be less prominent.” Dani’s eyes finally land on the terrified girl by the tree, and a sick feeling bubbles up within her as she looks to the ground.

“You don’t know, do you?”

“No.” She barely struggles the word out.

Sam notices her too now. “Why does that one female look different? She looks more human.”

The other three watch, but Dani can’t even do that, looking at the ground, hearing the girls shrieks as one of the men manhandle her. She’s trying to swallow down the sick feeling, she doesn’t need any more pity looks. 

“We have to stop them.” Dani internally curses Sam out for always being so morally stalwart, because they can’t. And Dani has to be the on to explain why.

“No. That’s how males in prehistoric societies likely always copulated, forcibly. We can’t affect alien cultures Captain. It’s survival of the fittest, strongest male gets to mate.”

“Well I call it rape, and I think we should stop it.”

Thankfully, Jack is the one to hold Carter back and explain things, order her not to do something dangerous. Though even more thankfully, everything is halted by a hail of rocks coming down from seemingly out of nowhere, which, when Dani questions, Jack identifies the direction easily. They decide to flank either side of the group of mysterious people robed in white who apparently have come to the captured girls rescue. When they’ve been ascertained as ‘not Goa’ulds’, Jack asks her what they are? And before Danielle can even begin to guess, a man at the front of the group lowers a white veil to answer.

“My Lord. We are the Untouched, I am High Councilor Tuplo.” His female companion beside him continues.

“We are pleased the gods have deemed us worthy of a return visit.”

“Gods?” Jack sounds skeptical, but really, when doesn’t he?

“Uhh, I think they’re talking about us. Only the gods come through the Stargate. We should probably start getting used to this kind of treatment.”

“Oh for crying out loud!” Jack’s catchphrase does make a fun appearance, and to a certain degree, Dani agrees with the sentiment behind it, if only because aliens aren’t gods, and the display is reminding her of home in a slightly painful way. 

After helping them up from their knees, they whisper amongst themselves, and lead the way to a place they have apparently designated ‘the Land of Light’. Once they’ve arrived to a large hall, clearly Minoan, and Dani says as much to the group, they’re invited to sit by the High Councilor.

“Is she alright?” Sam nods to the shaking girl sitting between two large bull busks.

“I do hope. She is my daughter.” Is Tuplo’s answer

“What’s her name?”

“She is called Melosha. I can only hope we rescued her in time from the hands of the Touched. We must now wait to see if she has been cursed by them.”

“The creatures that took her. What were they exactly?” Dani wishes Jack had at least a little real deductive reasoning, clearly they have some sort of alien disease that these people perceive as a curse.

“They are the Touched. They were unfortunate enough to be cursed by the Heelk’sha.” The familiar word perks Dani up.

“Heelk’sha. There’s a word like that back home. Is that…” Her mind struggles to translate the word, so she goes with the best she can come up with. “Gods of the earth?”

Thankfully Teal’c corrects it to ‘Underworld’ which makes sense, they were always calling them the evil gods back home. Jack continues to try and gather information, his tone vaguely condescending until he finally gets to the question we all actually want to know the answer to.

“When was the last time the good gods came around?” Dani mentally infers Sha’re and Skaara as the real question. Unfortunately, the answer is definitely not what either Dani or Jack really wanted to hear, so Dani tunes out for the rest of the conversation, barely even registering anything till Jack suggests leaving, at which point her inner anthropologist takes over.

“Move out?”

“Back to the Stargate, back to Earth. Terra Firma? Home? You’ve heard of it?”

“Uh, well, we should stay. At least for a little while longer, to study this culture, how it evolved from the Minoan culture on Earth. I mean, look at those statues Jack! They were all through Minoan culture and because no one can translate their writing, we’ve never known why. And look how much their fashion has changed, no more loincloths and kilts, they’re wearing robes similar to that of later Grecian fashion. And I didn’t see any bodies of water anywhere, so that’s an entire dietary change! Jack it’s fascinating!”

“Look Dani, I’m a huge fan of all this crap, but deciphering a long forgotten culture from earth is not what this mission is about.”

So Dani pouts all the way back, until they’re met in the Gateroom by the General.

“Find anything?”

“No sir.” Dani feels the need to sassily cut in so she does.

“Yes, sir, actually, sir, we found a whole hell of a lot, sir.” Each use of sir comes out more and more sarcastic. Jack’s comeback about ‘strategic importance’ shuts her up, along with his hard glare, and they all go clean up before their debrief, at which it all comes up again.

**

“I’m sorry sir. I recognize I’m a guest at this party but I’m afraid I’m going to have to protest.”

“Let me guess – this is the science versus military discussion again?”

“Yes! This mission was a perfect example of my argument! We should have stayed on that planet longer. It was the perfect opportunity to study Minoan culture, which no Archaeologist on Earth has managed to figure out, due to their writing being indecipherable!” Thankfully, Sam also backs her up.

“Not to mention primitive man.”

“This really isn’t necessary, I’ve already- “But Dani isn’t even listening, already disagreeing before he can finish.

“Sir, would you let me finish? Look, those on the Dark side are clearly pre-Stone Age, but the people on the right are Bronze Age. There will likely be no better time to study the Broca Divide.” Jack’s yawned ‘what’ is vaguely offensive but Sam is there to explain rather than murder Jack which Dani might just do.

“The Broca Divide. Pierre Paul Broca was a 19th century anthropologist. He founded modern craniometry, the study of craniums and brains, which he used to compare the divide in intelligence between early species of mankind.”

Jack’s sarcastic ‘fascinating’ causes Dani to become enraged yet again.

“Now just wait one minute!”

“Dr Jackson you’re wasting your breath! You’ve already won the argument!”

“But I have to insist that you -wait what? I’ve already won?” 

“The President agrees with you.” Dani skips on the inside, but on the outside, she finally calms down and takes a seat, ignoring Jack’s annoyance and smiling at Sam beside her. Then, all of a sudden, Lt Johnson leaps across the table to attack Teal’c yelling something about Goa’uld, and everyone is trying, to no avail, to order him to stand down. Thankfully, Teal’c can hold his own against the clearly manic Lieutenant who is quickly subdued and carried out of the room.

**

Later, Sam and Dani are working together in the Gateroom when Dani asks Sam what she thinks was going on, who puts it down to drunkenness. 

“I’m not sure. It didn’t seem like inebriation to me. I mean, he was foaming at the mouth when they took him away.”

All of a sudden, both of them are distracted from their work by two men fighting their way right out of the boardroom window, falling the whole way down. They both run to check on them, and while Dani’s groans, still barely alive, Sam’s is clearly dead from the fall. They call medics down to them, and they get taken to Dr Frasier. Dani continues with her day, which mostly involves setting up her office, trying to hire experts in fields they might encounter, because funnily enough, Dani is technically only an expert in Egyptology, and she can’t cover every single Earth culture ever known. She may be a genius but she only has so much brain power. She also spends some time looking up Australopithecus, which she says as much to Jack when she sees him, but is soon distracted from her train of thought by the scratch on his neck.

“I uh, got in to a little wrestling match with Carter.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know Dani, I guess she’s got whatever Johnson’s got. Had to drag her off to the infirmary.”

“Wait, so she started a fight with you? Like Johnson did with Teal’c?”

“No, uh…” Jack looks a little sheepish, as if he doesn’t really want to admit this to Dani. “She tried to seduce me.”

“I’m sorry what?” She laughs lightly at him, ignoring the flash of jealousy in her stomach, instead masking it with humor. “Oh. You poor man.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. She was like a wild animal. Nuts. Besides, she’s, uh, she’s not my type.”

“Of course she isn’t, because hot blonde’s aren’t your type at all.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Dani barely even notices that Jack is getting more agitated at that.

“Just that Sam seems a lot like Sarah, from what I’ve seen in pictures and-” She’s cut off by Jack pulling her in by the waist.

“I prefer hot brunettes these days.” And all of a sudden Jack is kissing her, and half of her brain wants to fall in, and the other half wants to run far far away, still not over her husbands death. She tries for somewhere in the middle, pushing lightly on his chest to separate their lips.

“Jack, I think I should probably take you to the infirmary. I just need you to let go-“ And he’s kissing her again, and she pushes him away again, only able to separate their faces and not their chests what with his strong grip on her. “No! Jack get-“ 

He continues to kiss her until an SF tries to pull him off, which only gets the guy punched before Jack is trying to continue, knocking her in to a tv monitor set up behind her as she tries to get away. It takes two male officers and a technician to finally pull him off and away. A third, female officer helps her up.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I… What the hell.” 

Dani has some blood coming from her lower lip which was split sometime in the middle of the aggressive kisses. She follows to the infirmary, picking Teal’c up along the way, because clearly this is infectious and they need to be check out. Frasier has apparently found a parasitical virus feeding on chemical transmitters in the body.

“It causes all of the most non-primitive parts of the brain just shut down.”

“Hence why they act like animals?”

“Actually, it also releases a hormone that stimulates the most primitive parts of the brain.”

“Which would explain the Touched.” Dani mentally comments behind herself that its unsurprising that they brought home a disease from an alien planet.

“Pardon me?” Teal’c, thankfully explains, because Dani is about two seconds away from rage quitting because now Jack and Sam are both infected with whatever this is.

“It is what the primitives on P3X 797 were called, the Touched.” Teal’c’s stoicism calms her down a mite.

“They called it a curse caused by the touch of the evil gods, and I should have put together that it meant the Goa’uld had given some of them a disease that not even they were immune to. We came in to contact with them seconds after we went through the ‘gate. Isn’t that special?” 

“The question is, why haven’t you two developed symptoms yet?”

“Well Teal’c? Probably because of his symbiote. Me? No clue. You’re the doctor, Doctor.”

“Maybe you will develop symptoms later.”

“Thanks for the moral support T.”

“Mr Teal’c might have a point. The Colonel didn’t develop symptoms until after his saliva swap with Captain Carter. The same might occur to you. I’m checking both of your blood for the presence of the contagion, and I would bet you both have it. It’s highly contagious.” At which point the General finally clues in on the severity of the situation.

“Are you saying we could’ve brought a new plague to this planet?”

After the General leaves to lock down the mountain, they hear a screeching coming from the cells they’re containing the infected in. They find Jack having a primitive hissy fit in his, and he no longer even sounds or looks human, and they have to physically hold him while the Doc administers a sedative to calm him down.

**

Later on, they find out that both Danielle and Teal’c are devoid of the organism, yay for that, and they suggest going to ask the Untouched how they remain so. Then Janet comes up with what is probably a better idea.

“I could use a blood sample from someone uninfected. Maybe there is something in their system that protects them, something we could synthesize.”

“Alright, either of you know how to draw blood?” At their completely blank faces, he orders Dr Frasier to teach them. “You go through in half an hour.”

“Woah, woah, wait. Just the two of us?”

“You’re immune! I don’t know anyone else who is!” Dani tilts her head as if to say ‘fair point’ and listens to Janet’s lesson as best she can. Half an hour later, the barest skeleton team sends them through the ‘gate, everyone else already infected. Even with Teal’c’s words of comfort, Dani is horribly anxious as they walk through the wormhole. The feeling only vanishes when she notices a girl lying beneath a tree in the dark. They walk over to check her pulse and roll her over, revealing the fact that the girl from before, Melosha if Dani remembers correctly, has been left there.

“She’s alive.”

“It appears she is afflicted.” Teal’c appears to be right judging from the extended brow ridge.

“So they just dump her out here?”

“We dump them in a small room.”

“To protect them.”

“To protect everyone else. There is little difference.”

Dani sighs in defeat. “You know, you’re right. They’re like lepers. And the Dark side is a leper colony.”

“What is a leper?”

It’s an odd question, given lepers were around in Ancient Egyptian times, but then again, Teal’c’s culture was technically of purely alien origins, and merely occasionally interacted with Ancient Egyptian culture. She doesn’t bother trying to explain and instead tries to get Teal’c to assist with helping the poor girl. Even though Teal’c intends to leave her and Dani disagrees, before the disagreement can be resolved, the Touched arrive, and that’s the last thing that she remembers before coming to in the first room they came to at the temple of the Minoan’s. 

**

“Jack?” Is the first thing out of her mouth. 

“There’s our little space monkey.” 

“Where are we?” Dani asks blearily, as she catalogs a painful ache at the apex of her thighs, just being cognizant enough to thank past her for the forethought of getting the intravenous contraceptive device.

“The light side of P3X 797.”

“I thought we were gonna give it a better name.” She takes her glasses from Teal’c, putting them on to see everybody pleased at the return of her sassy comebacks as a sign she’s ok.

“She’s back, she’s normal.”

She barely pays attention to the rest of the conversation Jack and Sam have with the natives of Mini-Minoa (her mental name for the place), and when she stands to follow after them back to the Dark side, she intentionally ignores Sam’s worried looking at her mild limp. After the grossly cute reunion of the now Untouched Touched with their family, they start to walk back, Dani even hears Jack tease Sam about her behavior when she was infected, and the tank top. She feels the need to get him back for his own hypocrisy.

“Jack, would you shut it? You weren’t any better you know? And I’ve got a split lip to prove it.”

“Wait he? Jack made a move on you?” Sam smiles now that she’s got something against her commanding officer. “Did you wear a little tank top number too?”

“Ha, ha, very funny you two.” Jack is clearly a little uncomfortable as he pulls ahead of the group, leaving the two girls to giggle behind him, Teal’c at their flank.

**Author's Note:**

> So, major differences, there's another brother I created, because I don't think Dani would be allowed to remain single on the planet, even as a god slayer and adoptive daughter of Kasuf, so yep, and no birth control plus a cultural imperative to procreate means baby Jackson. I also believe, like many who write Dani, that for some reason, maybe the need to prove the patriarchy wrong that they wouldn't have as a boy because they don't experience gender inequality, Dani has 2 more degrees and several more languages under her belt, and yeah, I'm trash for a casual, Jack and Dani are secretly pining thing, because I'm totally setting that up. If there's any thoughts of mine I should explain, just comment and I will try to fix it. Oh, and Abhain means River, and Sahak is Isaac.
> 
> Much love from your faithful author, Blue.


End file.
